CATASTROFE CLUB have reached the point where the extinction of humanity begins to sound suspiciously like good news. On Un Dia Mejor, Josep M. Herrera and David Molina survey civilization’s wreckage with the composure of two men who have already accepted that we’ve been hurtling toward disaster since about WW1.
The Granollers duo’s fourth single previews UN FUTURO TRANQUILO, their fourth album, due this October through Periphylla Records. Following the trilogy that defined their earlier work, the record opens another chapter for a project whose interests have always stretched far beyond any useful genre designation. Post-punk, darkwave, electronics, post-rock and pop all pass through the machinery, with Herrera’s rough spoken delivery sitting somewhere between public announcement, philosophical complaint and the guy at the end of the bar who has finally assembled enough evidence to prove civilization was a clerical error.
Un Dia Mejor begins amid catastrophe. Lights die, people run through darkness, civilization appears to reach its conclusion, and somehow the central idea remains stubbornly hopeful. The song imagines collapse as an opening rather than merely an endpoint, asking why humanity remains frightened of change, love and the possibility of an existence radically different from the one it has built for itself.
CATASTROFE CLUB can stare directly at environmental ruin, social collapse and human stupidity while maintaining an odd serenity, as though extinction might finally allow every other creature on Earth a decent night’s sleep. Musically, the group pushes further into post-rock scale and cinematic space while keeping their electronic foundation intact. Layers accumulate gradually around bass, keyboards, guitars and programming, giving the track a broad horizon without losing the dry, severe personality that has followed Herrera and Molina throughout their catalogue. Their stated influences include Sigur Rós, Idles, Fontaines D.C., Astrud and Los Punsetes, though those reference points function more like distant road signs than destinations.
The accompanying video extends the song’s worldview through a montage of retrofuturist imagery, historical disorder, and footage of the duo performing. Visions of technological progress collide with reminders of twentieth-century chaos, creating the uncomfortable sensation of watching humanity repeatedly advertise tomorrow while wrecking today.
Watch the video for Un dia mejor below:
Tension sits at the center of UN FUTURO TRANQUILO. CATASTROFE CLUB imagines a peaceful future precisely because humanity may no longer occupy it. There is cruelty in the joke, certainly, but also a strange tenderness toward whatever survives us.
For these two chroniclers of decline, a better day may still be coming.
We simply might not be invited.
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